Relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world - Wikipedia
The relationship between
Nazi Germany (1933–1945) and the leadership of the
Arab world encompassed contempt, propaganda, collaboration and in some instances emulation. Cooperative political and military relationships were founded on shared hostilities toward common enemies, such as British and French
imperialism,
colonialism,
communism, and
Zionism. Hitler made warm statements about Islam as a religion and political ideology. However, official Nazi ideology also considered Arabs to be racially inferior to Germans.
Some wealthy Arabs who traveled to Germany in the 1930s brought back fascist ideals and incorporated them into
Arab Nationalism.
[25] One of the principal founders of
Ba'athist thought and the
Ba'ath Party,
Zaki al-Arsuzi, stated that
Fascism and
Nazism had greatly influenced Ba'athist ideology. An associate of al-Arsuzi,
Sami al-Jundi, wrote:
"We were racists. We admired the Nazis. We were immersed in reading Nazi literature and books that were the source of the Nazi spirit. We were the first who thought of a
translation of
Mein Kampf. Anyone who lived in Damascus at that time was witness to the Arab inclination toward Nazism.
Michel Aflaq a founder of the Ba'athist philosophy admired Hitler and the Nazis for standing up to Britain and America. This admiration would combine aspects of Nazism into Ba'athism."
[26][27]
Haj Amin al-Husseini and
Adolf Hitler on 28 November 1941.
The two most noted Arab politicians who actively collaborated with the Nazis were Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (al Quds) Haj Amin al-Husseini,
[28][
page needed]
[29] and the Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani.
[30][31]